Teaching
Linguistics 420: Morphology (Spring 2021)
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
In Ling 420 we discuss various morphological phenomena and approaches to morphological issues, using examples from many languages. This course is designed to provide students with necessary knowledge and skills of morphological analysis, introduce morphological terms and major morphological phenomena, and demonstrate how morphology interacts with syntax and phonology. The class engages in morphological analysis regularly.
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- define and discuss core notions related to morphology
- recognize and understand examples illustrating major morphological phenomena
- examine and compare morphological phenomena from a typological stance
- conduct and present morphological analyses of linguistic data
Familiarity with basic linguistics, including basic syntactic and phonological terminology, is assumed. The prerequisite for this course is Ling 320 (General Linguistics), but Ling 421 (Introduction to Phonological Analysis) and Ling 422 (Introduction to Grammatical Analysis) are recommended. Students who take Ling 420 are typically early graduate students or advanced undergraduates.
Sample Ling 420 syllabus (Spring 2021)
Linguistics 102: Introduction to the study of language
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Ling 102 is a 3-credit, 100-level non-technical introduction to linguistics, the scientific study of language. We talk about what makes language language and how students can begin to describe and analyze the languages and dialects spoken and heard around them. Major goals of this course include fostering an appreciation for linguistic and cultural diversity, and encouraging critical thinking through making connections between real-world observations, life experiences, and classroom knowledge. The course includes a Writing-Intensive focus, and includes projects and assignments designed to help students develop tools to use in future classes and employment: researching, writing, editing, working in groups, and clearly communicating ideas.
Some of the things students learn to do in this class include:
- learning to broadly transcribe American English words using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
- analyzing sentences in multiple languages in terms of grammatical relations and thematic roles
- reconstructing sounds and words in a proto-language, and
- presenting informed arguments about real-world events and attitudes related to linguistics and language